POSTCARDS FROM THE RED PLANET
by deetatarant
Summary: I suppose this is fluff... A Season two fic. Jack, Owen and Ianto Gwen and Tosh. Some implied violence... PLEASE REVIEW. T rated.


**POSTCARDS FROM THE RED PLANET**

"Are you serious when you say that there will be a colony on Mars not too far away from now?" Ianto asked Jack, once the boardroom had cleared of the rest of the members of the Torchwood team. Ianto sat down at Jack's side and turned to face his leader.

Jack smiled one of those really brilliant smiles that made Ianto slightly weak at the knees. "Yeah, the first expeditions met with failure, but yeah. Exciting eh?"

Ianto nodded wishing he'd be alive to see it happen. "Yes it is. I remember when I was a kid reading the 'Martian Chronicles' and it was thrilling, those first people on the red planet. It must be amazing to stand on another world and see another sky, breath different air." He trailed off.

Jack nodded his thoughts drifting. "Maybe one day I will get the chance to show you."

Ianto doubted that, but not Jack's sincerity in wishing. "I'd like that." He stood up, deciding to clear the table of the empty mugs and biscuit plates, he paused.

"Did you ever go to Mars?"

Jack looked up into smiling, curious eyes. "No. Earth is the only planet I've been on in this system, never came this way before then. I'll go one day in the future, no doubt."

Ianto's smile fell away. "No doubt." The mugs were gathered onto a tray.

"I'll send you a postcard." Jack added with a wink.

Ianto gawped at him for a moment and then he rolled his eyes, the smile back in place. "Thank you Jack, I look forward to it."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTW

"Bloody hell Tea Boy, can't you go faster?"

Ianto glared at Owen and then yanked the steering wheel hard to his left, the SUV mounting the pavement and taking out a litter bin as it was skirted around the backed up traffic. Owen gripped the dash and grinned like an idiot.

"That's more like it don't want those weevils running riot in Splott!"

Ianto kept his gaze on the road, aware in his peripheral vision as a speed camera flashed them.

"Well considering that we are actually not going there anyway…. Tosh?"

"_The signal's still there. It's a set of warehouses, you'll have to head out in the direction of Newport, the destination is being up loaded now."_

The sat nav in front of him winked and Ianto glanced at it briefly and took a sharp left.

"Thanks Tosh, will keep you posted."

"_Coms open guys, at all times."_ Jack's voice was loud in their ears and Owen winced.

"Yes, boss we know. We have done this before."

Ianto brought the SUV to a stop outside a partially constructed warehouse. The wind was whipping at tarpaulin covers and making the scaffolding rattle and hum. Ianto locked the vehicle with a sigh as the chill immediately made its way under his coat. He went round to the trunk and retrieved a stun gun and weevil spray and handed both items to his colleague. Owen nodded his thanks.

"Ok, Tosh we've arrived and are about to go in."

"_OK._"

Ianto pocketed his own can of spray, checked the charge on his stun gun and then the clip in his Glock. Owen arched an eyebrow.

"You expecting trouble?"

Ianto shrugged as he took a glance the expanse of a half finished metal building. Steel girders stark against the skyline.

"Shall we, it's cold out here."

Owen took the lead, and Ianto followed, examining the data flowing across the screen of his PDA for a moment. He took another look around and then glanced at his watch.

"Owen, it's 4pm."

The medic kept walking at a brisk pace, eyes scanning the diggers, a portacabin and stacked girders.

"So?"

Ianto sighed. "Well where is everyone? This is a building site, it's not exactly knocking off time yet."

Owen froze, immediately drawing his gun. He tapped his com.

"Tosh, did you clear the site?"

The was a momentary pause.

"_Yep I spoke to the site manager, the workforce all have the day off."_

Ianto felt his gut churn, something wasn't right.

"Even the site security? Tosh this place looks deserted." The two men were still moving forward, cautiously glancing around anything that obscured their view.

Ianto's world went black.

Owen swung round just in time to see his companion crumple to the ground. He was stung in the back of his leg and quickly followed Ianto into oblivion.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

The first thing Owen saw when he woke up was Jack's concerned face about an inch away from his. Owen instinctively juddered in shock and practically threw himself upright, almost head butting his boss in the process.

"Whoa, easy!"

Owen lurched, aware of strong hands supporting in his sitting position as his head swam violently behind his eyes.

"Oh, shit." He then threw up, spattering the concrete and Jack's boots with recycled pizza. "Ugh, sorry. Shit, Ianto, is he alright?" He heaved it out before throwing up again. Jack had moved his feet clear this time, but his grip on Owen remained firm and reassuring.

"He's not here."

Owen's head shot up and ignoring the severe dizziness he glanced around, he could see Tosh with her scanner and Gwen peering at something on the ground. The medic sighed.

"I'm sorry Jack. They took us completely by surprise."

"It's ok. Did you see who they were?"

Owen finally met Jack's concerned gaze. "No, I just saw Ianto go down. Must have been some fast acting tranquiliser. Oh, I feel like shit." He was talking more to himself now.

"It's fine, sit still for a minute while we take a look around." Owen could tell that Jack didn't sound very hopeful. Ianto was gone and more to the point had clearly been targeted. He watched as Jack strode away to join Gwen and Tosh and Owen sat there rubbing his thigh where the dart had gone in before knocking him out.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWWTWT

Ianto's eyes snapped open and his eyes burned with the intrusion of the bright light on his vision. His head throbbed in time with his sluggish pulse and nausea clawed up from his gut, leaving the bitter burn of bile at the back of his throat. He blinked, eyes watering and finally raised his head to look around.

"Oh, that's not good. Owen?" He croaked and then coughed back the burning. His vision cleared, the tears blinked away and tracking over his grey cheeks. He startled at the sight of a woman sitting in front of him and then he realised with a dread that he couldn't move. He could feel his own handcuffs securing his wrists at his back and thick cable ties cutting into his ankles. Ianto gave up before even trying. He knew he wasn't going anywhere soon. Ianto was just grateful he was on a chair and not a stool, otherwise he would have keeled over onto the floor by now.

He blinked owlishly at the woman, sitting and staring at him and it took his foggy brain some moments to recognise who it was.

"Emma?" His voice was still ragged. "Emma Llwelwyn?"

She leaned forward, elbows resting on her knees.

"Hello Ianto, it's good to see you again." Her Newport accent was as thick as ever and Ianto felt his heart sink into his boots, this wasn't going to go well.

"I wish I could say the same, what are you doing? Why have you done this?" His anger gave him some strength as his wits sharpened. The effects of the drug were wearing off.

Emma got up, her boots crunching on the gritty concrete floor of this unknown brick room. Ianto ignored her in favour of taking in his surroundings, what looked like a half built house, left to decay.

"No hello then. Come Ianto it's been, what, 12 years? Surely a greeting would be a good way to start?"

Ianto sighed. "What do you want?"

Emma circled round the dim room and Ianto felt his back prickle with unease as she went behind him, but she came back into his line of sight and this time she was holding up his side arm, his very expensive, high tech Torchwood issue gun.

"I've seen you around town, in that black SUV with those 'special ops' guys. So I went to visit Rhiannon to find out how you were doing and she tells me you're a civil servant, which of course is bollocks." She moved the gun from one hand to the other, testing the feel of it. "This is top shit. So I figured, there would be more and me and you being friends an' all….."

Ianto watched as she sat back down on the cheap plastic chair in front of him. The weapon was carefully placed on the floor between her booted feet.

"We were never friends, I was 12 the last time I saw you. How was the youth detention centre anyway?"

"Informative. I met some interesting people. People that would be very interested in this." Her gaze went down to the gun.

Ianto couldn't help but roll his eyes. "So you went from vandalism to arms dealing?"

"I've got to earn a living. I have a family to feed."

Ianto recognised the lie easily. "Yeah right."

From the pocket of her designer leather coat she pulled out his wallet and opened it up.

"So, tell me about this Torchwood. It must be pretty special if you're carrying that kind of hardware, not to mention the million dollar suit."

Ianto tried to move his left foot, but the cable tie was tight and cut through the skin, making him wince.

"I can't do that."

The wallet was tossed to the floor.

"Yes you can."

"No, I really can't."

The gun was picked up and the safety clicked off. Ianto found himself staring down the barrel of his own side arm.

"You remember my Tad, Liam?"

Ianto arched an eyebrow. Liam was difficult to forget.

"I remember he stabbed my best friend to death and got a piss poor sentence for it." He strained against the handcuffs.

Liam came into his line of sight and Ianto hitched a breath, 12 years had barely changed him, except for the addition of a variety of colourful tattoos.

"Jonesy boy, bet you didn't think you'd be seeing me again, did you?"

Ianto said nothing, more worried by the long bladed hunter knife gripped in Liam's left hand. It was Ianto's testimony in years past that had put this thug behind bars.

"You were just a little snivelling pervert, I see nothing has changed. But I'm not about to discuss my prejudice with you, or my resentment at being locked away from my daughter for 6 years. What I want from you, what we want are some of those weapons you carry around. So if you play nice, I might even be able to let you go." He held up a mobile phone, which Ianto recognised as being his own. "You're gonna call that Torchwood of yours and get us some weapons."

It occurred to Ianto just how pathetically amateur this was, like some bad episode of The Bill. Petty local crooks trying to step into the big league, most likely for armed robbery and Ianto knew he could not let that happen. He didn't want to die either. Calling Jack would do two things, get him his help and stop these little lowlifes before they got started. He hoped.

"You have no idea who you are dealing with." Was his response. Maybe they'd believe him and just walk away. He had to give them that chance, didn't he? These were people he grew up with, even if he didn't like them, they just victims of the society they were raised in.

Liam laughed. "Little puff thinks he's the hard man now, does he? Get this straight, you have no idea. Make the call." The phone was held out and Ianto almost laughed at the stupidity of the gesture with his hands bound the way that they were.

Ianto shrugged. "Bit difficult, you cuffed me."

The deafening gunshot was bad enough, but the explosion of pain in his lower leg made Ianto scream. It took him some moments for the shock to wear off, but the leg felt like it was on fire. Ianto sobbed for a moment, sucking in juddering breaths.

"Next one, will be your knee, which will be a fuck sight harder to fix, now do as Tad says."

Ianto grit his teeth, sod them, Jack could shoot both of them dead for all he cared.

"You'll have to uncuff me, the phone won't respond to your touch."

Liam tested it, trying to access the contacts list. "Fine. Emma, you shoot him if he tries anything."

Ianto sighed with relief when his hands were freed from behind his back, they were quickly secured at his front though and the phone was jammed into his shaky grasp.

"Make the call, you shit."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWWTWTWTWTW

Somehow Jack wasn't surprised when he got the call and Ianto's clever use of the inbuilt phone camera to send images of his assailants. It took Tosh less than five seconds to locate the source of the call. Jack had the SUV hurtling down the M4 a moment later as he listened to the demands of one Liam Llewelyn and a plaintive 'hurry up' from Ianto. The young man's undertone was clearly one of annoyance. In the back seat of the car Gwen was researching, trying to figure who they were dealing with and she huffed with disgust when the names of a pair of petty territorial thugs came up on her screen and Ianto's history with them.

"What's the plan Jack?"

Owen demanded from the passenger seat, still queasy from the drug and Jack's driving. Tosh had gone back to the Hub in Ianto's car.

Jack flashed a wide, white grin. "We go in and rescue our damsel in distress and Retcon the bad guys into babyhood, good enough for you?"

Owen nodded with a smile. "Sounds like a good idea to me, what do you say PC Cooper?"

Gwen looked up from her screen and caught sight of Jack's face in the rear view mirror.

"I say we kick some arse, these guys holding Ianto, they're just crooks wanting to upgrade themselves into violent offenders. We can't bargain with them Jack and Ianto knows that."

"He wouldn't want us to anyway, being honourable an' all."

Owen rolled his eyes. "Cut it Harkness, lets just go get our Tea Boy back before I need coffee."

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWT

Ianto made a show of disconnecting the call, whilst leaving the signal trace still active. He knew that Jack and the team had no intention of negotiating and that it was only a matter of time before they showed up, hopefully not with guns blazing. He sat there, uncomfortable under the scrutiny of a woman who used to bully him at school and a man who had murdered his best friend for being 'queer'. Joshua had only been thirteen at the time, but he had been a hero to Ianto, the one who had stepped in between him and the bullies, the one who was not afraid to admit who he was. Prejudice had killed him and Ianto recalled with nauseating clarity holding his friend as he bled out in his arms by the school gates.

Ianto was grateful for the pain in his leg, right then. He needed the pain to keep him focussed, though as he looked down at his feet he became alarmed by the amount of blood pooled around his leather soled shoes.

"They're not going to deal with us, are they?" Liam's voice broke the uncomfortable silence.

Ianto looked up at him and narrowed his gaze. "Not a chance."

He felt rather than saw the gun being raised as a chill crept up his spine and then cold metal touched his temple.

"I warned you, you have no idea who you are up against. If you walk away now, you might just survive this. Torchwood does not negotiate with terrorists." Ianto kept his voice level.

Liam blanched. "I'm no fucking terrorist, I run a business."

Ianto almost chuckled. "By the time our IT technician has finished with your records, you'll be wanted for a half dozen IRA bombings, or maybe some gay bashing, inciting to riot, that's always a favourite." He said calmly, his eyes locked with Liam's. There was the first hint of doubt there, a slight twitch of fear.

The barrel of the gun was shoved against his skull and Ianto winced.

"You'd still be dead, are you sure you want that?" Emma snapped.

Ianto shrugged. "I'm not the issue here. Either way I suspect I will be dead. My point is, your lives will be ruined, the lives of your children, siblings and grandchildren. Torchwood would destroy you all, believe me I've seen it done, have had to do it myself."

"You seriously imagine that you are in a position to threaten us, are you so desperate? You're just making up that shit to save your own neck."

Ianto turned his eyes on to Emma, who glared down at him with nothing but scorn in her hardened expression, she stepped back pointing the gun toward his chest.

Ianto remained calm, although really he suspected it was light headedness from the blood loss.

"Actually it's your neck I am trying to save, not mine. Seriously, walk away because if my boss finds you here, he will kill you." Ianto smiled at her as in the distance he heard the familiar roar of the SUV's engines.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Jack sat slumped over the end of the exam couch in the autopsy bay, his head nestled against his arms as he kept his vigil at Ianto's side. He sighed, realising Ianto's current state was entirely down to his own ineptitude. He'd been too impatient to go to Ianto's rescue and his recklessness had gotten Ianto a bullet in his chest. There were two new bodies in the morgue and Owen who was sleeping off a six hour surgical session was snoring on the couch. Ianto was lying as close to death's door as it got.

It worried Jack to think about what it was Ianto had been involved with. Why had two low life crooks ended up in his morgue, had Ianto betrayed them, him, again? Somehow Jack doubted it, Ianto's sense of loyalty could always be relied on and the somewhat shy man was basically a decent person. Ianto would do whatever it took for Torchwood and Jack realised for himself, but he would never do anything illegal outside his Torchwood remit, it just wasn't in Ianto's nature to be bad. Jack sighed, somewhat lulled by the steady beeping of the heart monitor and mechanical wheeze of the respirator keeping Ianto alive. He gently touched Ianto's hair, rubbing the soft strands between his fingers, and found a spot still sticky with yesterday's hair gel.

Another long sigh escaped him as he went over in his mind what had happened earlier that day. It had been a shambles and Jack recalled the horror he felt as the young woman with Ianto's gun in her hand had squeezed the trigger with a bitter smile on her face, just micro seconds before Owen took her down with a head shot. The man, Liam, had lunged for the weapon that had fallen and Gwen finished him off with ruthless efficiency. Gwen, the so called heart of the organisation had then gone straight to Ianto's side to help Owen, not even giving the bodies a second glance. One of their own had been hurt and that was all that had mattered. Unanswered questions would be dealt with later, if Ianto woke up again to answer them.

Jack smiled to himself grateful that his tight knit team loved one another so much to risk themselves for the sake of…. He chewed at his lower lip contemplating just how dangerous such powerful feelings were and how wonderful too. His fingers drifted across to brush over Ianto's cool, smooth forehead and Jack straightened himself up to get a better look at his face. Even with the breathing tube taped into his mouth, Ianto looked peaceful, almost serene, his pale skin glowing in the dim light. It was fanciful, Ianto was just like all the Welsh, pasty white from lack of sun, but somehow Jack managed to see a faintly angelic quality there and it made him smile. Ianto had no idea just how beautiful he was. Jack kissed his nose and then his forehead. He debated kissing his mouth and rejected the idea, he'd already done that when Ianto had crashed as Owen was removing the bullet from his chest. He believed that Ianto was beyond their help now and that the rest was up to the Welshman himself.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Ianto ambled stiffly around the confines of the tourist office, his movements restricted by pain and copious amounts of bandaging around his chest and lower left leg. He'd given up with the walking stick, finding it to be more of a hindrance and told Jack in no uncertain terms to allow him back into work before he went nuts at home. He had tolerated the veritable interrogation over his abduction and connection to his kidnappers and now here he was, in his own little world, shuffling leaflets and now settling down to turn attention to the pile of mail that the postman had delivered to his house that morning. There were a couple of bills, the council tax reminder and a large padded envelope which to his surprise sported Jack's elegant handwriting across the front. Puzzled Ianto slit it open carefully and a selection of glossy images slid out onto the bench. There was a handwritten letter attached, the paper silky and strong to the touch. Ianto carefully unfolded it.

_My dearest Ianto Jones,_

_Once, a very long time ago you and I talked of Mars and what it was like to stand on a different world. I remember promising to send you a postcard._

_Technically I am not supposed to do this, you know time lines an' all, but I trust you not to tell 'your Jack'. Let this be our secret. I just wanted to show you the magic of another world, I never got the chance before, when you were alive, so here I am now, trying to make up for all the things I didn't do or say. The Doc will probably have my arse later for this, but right now I don't care._

_So here are my postcards from Mars…. Well pictures I took and pictures my companion has taken as well. It's my first ever journey here, and it really is beautiful to see the birth of a new colony on another world. Of course finding actual paper and being able to get this back to your time was tricky….I wanted to see you so much, but I couldn't risk it, so I hope the postal service in Cardiff hasn't let me down._

_The date is 2976, August 19__th__, so happy birthday. I won't forget you Ianto Jones. Be the good and strong man I know you are and know that you will have my love for all eternity._

_Captain Jack Harkness_

Ianto sat there, stunned. He smiled and cried at the same time as he looked at each picture, savouring the one of Jack, his Jack and yet not, standing and smiling happily with Olympus Mons behind him. It was too touristy for words and Ianto just felt his heart swell with grief and joy all at once. Joy that he was remembered and grief at the prospect of not being the one to share this otherworldly experience with the man he loved so fiercely. He gathered the images up and carefully replaced them in the envelope. It was stowed away in the lock up draw inside his diary. It took some moments for Ianto to gather himself together enough to continue with his work.


End file.
